Method of protecting areas of an earth situs against scour



Aug. 18, 1970 L. A. TURZiLLO 3,524,320

METHOD OF PROTECTING AREAS OF AN EARTH SITUS 'AQAINST SCOUR Filed Jan.25. 1967 INVENTOR. Lee H Tury \lo 9m @QQAMJ United States Patent 01 fice3,524,320 Patented Aug. 18, 1970 METHOD OF PROTECTING AREAS OF AN EARTHSITUS AGAINST SCOUR Lee A. Turzillo, Bath, Ohio (2078 Glengary Road,Akron, Ohio 44313) Filed Jan. 23, 1967, Ser. No. 611,107 Int. Cl. E02b3/12 US. Cl. 61-38 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Method ofprotecting a scoured area of an earth situs by injection of pressurizedliquid grout into a flexible fabric bag laid flatwise over said area, toexpand opposing walls of the bag while simultaneously limiting expansionbeyond a predetermined thickness of the bag. When the grout hardens, thebag has predetermined volumetric shape as well as thickness.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention relates to grouting andconcreting, and in particular relates to an improved method and meansfor protecting or lining areas of an earth situs by means of porous bagmeans filled with a hardenable grout liquid at the situs.

In the past, the prior art has disclosed various means for applyingprotective liners or blankets over scoured areas along canal or riverbanks, and likewise various means have been provided for forming thesame into retaining walls of various shapes and configurations. Theseprior art methods, however, have not been entirely satisfactory becausethey were either uneconomical for practical purposes, or provided nomeans for accurately controlling the thickness of the grout-filledliners or retaining walls, especially where walls were required to be ofshapes other than flat, such as tubular.

SUMMARY *In accordance with the present invention, flexiblewalled bagmeans in unexpanded condition is positioned at or on the surface area ofthe situs, for example, and is injected with self-hardenable concretingmaterial, such as hydraulic cement grout under pressure to expand thebag means while opposing Walls of the same are predeterminatelyrestrained against expansion beyond predetermined variable thickness orthicknesses. By this means, the shape of the bag means can be controlledso that it will have predetermined thickness, shape, and form uponhardening of the grout.

One object of the invention is to provide an improved means forinstalling protective bag means of various controlled shapes andpredetermined wall thicknesses in situ, without necessarily using aspecial sheet piling, rigid sheeting, or other temporary or permanentretaining means.

Other objects of the invention will be manifest from the following briefdescription and the accompanying drawings.

Of the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-section of a sloping bank of a river orwaterway, illustrating a protective lining made by the method of theinvention to protect the earth situs against scour, and to reinforce andsupport a bridge upright which has been damaged by scour.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section, partly broken away,illustrating the internal construction of the completed protectivelining of FIG. 1.

'FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2,but illustrating the collapsed condition of bag means and restrainingmeans for the same during an initial stage of the method.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-section illustrating an installation of theimproved liner means to line a sewer or like tunnel bore in an earthsitus.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of FIG. 4, partlybroken and in section.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is illustrated an installation of aprotective liner or sheeting L at the foot of a bridge upright 11 overriver R designed to prevent scouring or errosion which may cause severedamage to the bridge. The liner L may include one or a plurality ofgenerally flat, rectangular bags 10, 10 laid flatwise on a sloping areaof an earth situs, surrounding the base of the bridge upright. Each bagmay be of porous fabric, such as burlap, containing hardened concrete12, some of which has to a relatively small extent extruded through thepores of the bag to form a thin layer of concrete on the outside of thebag walls for bonding extension into pores, crevices, and voids in theearth of the situs contacted by the liner. Where a plurality of bags 10are used they may be laid in edge-to-ed-ge relationship to be bondedtogether by oozed-out, hardened grout.

In supplying grout under pressure to fill closed bags 10, the bag wallstend to be expanded with equal pressure in all directions and,therefore, tend to balloon out nonuniformly under certain conditions.Such expansion may be controlled to maintain the bags 10 insubstantially flat, uniformly thick condition, by use of the followingmethod of lining the slope S:

Each bag 10 may be laid flatwise on the earth surface, preferably aftersmoothing the same over as much as possible with a sheet of heavy gaugewire, square-mesh screen material 14 interposed between the upper andlower walls of the bag, inserted through suitable opening means (notshown). Before the bag is sewn closed with a conduit 10e from a sourceof pressurized, hydraulic cement grout, connected to the interiorthereof, a plurality of suitably spaced and positioned tie-wires 15, 15are looped, twisted or otherwise anchored, intermediate opposite endsthereof, to crossed wire portions of the screen 14 to have oppositeextensions 15a and 15b of the tie-wires extended through the top andbottom walls 101 and 10b of the bag, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 2and 3.

While the bag 10 is still retained in collapsed condition, outerportions of the tie-wire extensions 15a, 15b may be looped, twisted orotherwise anchored, as indi cated at 15c, 15c to rigid metal bars orwires 16, 1'6 serving as stop elements outside of the bag walls to be atpredetermined spacing from each other and from the internal mesh wirescreen 14, somewhat as shown in FIG. 3. Some or all of the stop elements16 may be elongated to extend through series of loops or twistedportions in a plurality of tie-wire extensions 15a, 15b. The stopelements 16, however, may be incorporated in wire mesh screen materialsimilar to screen 14. It is readily apparent from the foregoing thatvarious operations and adjustments are necessarily performed within bag10 prior to sewing the opening means therein closed.

Upon closing the bag 10, as by sewing shut the opening means, such as anopen end in the bag, with wire or heavy cord, in known manner,pressurized hydraulic cement grout is pumped or injected into the bag toexpand and fill the same with the grout. Expansion is allowed tocontinue until the spacing of said top and bottom walls of the closedbag is limited by stop engagement thereof with the respective stopelements 16, as from the relative relationship shown in FIG. 3 to thefully expanded bag conditions shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

When the bag 10 is fully expanded, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, injectionof pressurized grout may be continued until a relatively small fractionof the volume of grout form an outer coating 17 of grout on the bag.Portions of the coating 17 extend into pores, voids, and crevices in theearth situs, whereby upon subsequent hardening of the grout, the bag isbonded anchoringly to the situs.

As the proportionate lengths of the tie-wireextensions 15a, 1511 may beeasily adjusted at the situs, allowances can be made for expansion ofthe bag into larger pockets or irregularities in the earth situs, orotherwiseto control the expansion of the bag means 10, and thereby toprovide the same with requisitely uniform contour and thick ness.

FIG. 4 illustrates a vertical cross-section through a horizontal bore inan earth situs, wherein the above-described method is utilized toprovide a tubular concrete liner 18, or segment, composed of connectingliner bags d, 10d. As best shown in FIG. 5, however, the bag means 10amay best be maintained in tubular shape by providing longitudinallyspaced, circular anchoring rings 16a, 16a of rigid metal around thetubularly arranged bags next to the earth situs. The rings 16a, however,may be included within a self-supportingly rigid Wire mesh form. Withsuch an arrangement, the tie-wires can readily be adjusted, as before,to hold the inner walls of the bag means properly spaced with referenceto the outer walls of the bags during the grout injecting and hardeningcycles of the method.

The method described rovides an effective, economical way to protect anearth surface above or below the water line against scouring or erosion,or to provide a strong durable lining for waterways, undergroundconduits, and the like.

Modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departing fromthe spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A method as for covering a surface area of an earth situs withconcrete lining for protecting or containing the same, comprising:mounting a flexible-walled bag means of broad lateral area in unexpandedcondition against a corresponding broad lateral extent of a said surfacearea of the situs to have inner and outer flexible walls of the bagmeans in separably superposed relation over said surface area extent,with a multiplicity of tension-resistant tie-elements discretelydisposed throughout said broad lateral area of the unexpanded bag meansand each arranged between freely separable said superposed portions ofthe bag walls and connected to the respective said inner and outerwalls; injecting fiowable cement grout into said bag means underpressure to expand the bag means, including the separable saidsuperposed portions, and thereby form a protective concrete liner ofpredetermined substantially uniform, but variable overall thicknessthereof against said surface area, determined by restraint of saidseparable superposed wall portions against stop portions provided on therespective tie-elements; and permitting said fiowable grout of theformed protective concrete liner to solidify within the expanded bagmeans. a

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein said bag means is generallyporous-walled, and said grout is injected under pressure until a smallfraction of the fiowable grout oozes 4 w through the pores of the porouswalls to solidify in contact with the contacted said surface areas.

3. A method of lining surface areas of an earth situs with concretesheet piling for protecting or containing the same, comprising: mountingflexible-walled bag means in unexpanded condition upon the surface areato have flexible top and bottom walls of the bag means in superposedrelation with an openwork grid therebetween and a plurality of elongatedtie-elements anchored to the grid to extend end portions of the elementsoutwardly through said top and bottom walls of the bag means; injectingfiowable cement grout into said bag means under pressure, to expand thesuperposed walls thereof against expansion beyond predetermined variablethickness of the bag means determined by stop engagement of thesuperposed walls with stop portions provided on the tie-elements; andpermitting said fiowable grout to solidify within the expanded bagmeans.

4. A method of lining surface area of an earth situs with concretelining for protecting or containing the same, comprising: mountingflexible-walled bag means in unexpanded condition upon a substantiallybroad lateral extent of the surface area to have inner and outerflexible walls of the bag means in superposed relation over said broadlateral extent with a plurality of tieelements each arranged betweenseparable superposed portions of the bag walls; injecting fiowablecement grout into said bag means under pressure to expand the bag meansto predetermined variable thickness thereof, determined by restraint ofsaid separable superposed wall portions against stop portions on therespective tie-elements; and permitting said fiowable grout to solidifywithin the expanded bag means against said broad lateral extent ofsurface area; said extent of surface area against which the bag means isdisposed being arcuate, and said tie-elements being anchored toanchoring means aflixed to the situs.

5. A method as in claim 4, wherein said bag means is generallyporous-walled, and said grout is injected under pressure until a smallfraction of the fiowable grout oozes through the pores of the porouswalls to solidify in contact with the contacted said surface areas.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 25,614 7/1964 Turzillo 61353,396,545 8/1968 Lamberton 6145 X 3,396,542 8/ 1968 Lamberton 61-38983,209 1/1911 Condie 6138 1,265,164 5/1918 Barry 6153.6 3,254,4926/1966 Menard 6153.56

FOREIGN PATENTS 560,165 9/ 1957 Belgium. 27,904 12/ 1909 Sweden.

JACOB SHAPIRO, Primary Examiner U.s. c1. X.R. .61-41, 42,

